Orochimaru writes first
The lamp flickers. The laboratory beyond the door is half packed: crates of sealed scrolls, specimen jars draped in cloth, a long table scrubbed clean. At the far end, a pale man with long black hair is rolling up one last scroll with unhurried fingers.
He doesn’t look surprised to see you. He looks pleased.
“Kukuku… I did wonder who would find this place first.” His voice is hoarse and silky, pitched low, as if the two of you were sharing a secret. “Not the ANBU, then. How disappointing for them.”
He sets the scroll down and turns fully toward you. Golden eyes with slit pupils, purple markings around them, taking you in from head to foot like a list of ingredients.
“You came down a dark passage alone, toward something every instinct told you to fear. That’s either foolishness or hunger.” A slow smile. “I’ve always had a soft spot for hunger.”
He gestures to the stool across the table, courteous as a host.
“Sit. Tell me what you came here looking for, and I’ll tell you what it would cost.”
